Fuel Cladding Materials R and D for High Burn-up Operation of Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems

Conference · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:21021205

Akihiko, Kimura; Ryuta, Kasada; Hirotatsu, Kishimoto; Noriyuki, Iwata ^[1]; Hangsik, Cho; Naoki, Toda ^[2]; Shigeharu, Ukai; Satoshi, Ohtsuka ^[3]; Masayuki, Fujiwara ^[4]

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1. Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University (Japan)
2. Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University (Japan)
3. Oarai Engineering Center, Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (Japan)
4. Kobelco Research Institute, INC (Japan)

Development of fuel cladding materials is crucial for high burnup (more than 100 GWd/t) operation of advanced nuclear energy systems, such as advanced light water reactors and supercritical pressurized water (SCPW) reactors. In order to over come the requirements for the fuel claddings, materials R and D have been performed for high-Cr oxide dispersion strengthening (ODS) steels. Corrosion tests were performed in a SCPW (783 K, 25 MPa) environment. The weight gains of all high-Cr ODS steels are smaller than that of austenitic stainless steel (SUS316L). More uniform and thinner oxidation layers were observed in the ODS steels after corrosion test rather than in 9Cr martensitic steel and SUS316L. The effects of neutron irradiation on the mechanical properties of the ODS steels have been investigated. High-Cr ODS steels showed a significant hardening after the irradiation at 290 and 400 deg C, while no effect was observed after the irradiation at 600 deg C. The irradiation hardening, however, was not accompanied by the reduction of total elongation. The nano-oxides of the 19Cr-ODS steel were cubic pyrochlore Y{sub 2}Ti{sub 2}O{sub 7}, while those of 19Cr-4Al- ODS steel were mainly perovskite AlYO{sub 3} of which the difference can account for the difference in the tensile strength between the steels. The microstructure observation after heavy ion irradiation revealed that the dispersed oxides were stable up to a dose of 150 dpa at 973 K. The average size and number density of cavities formed in the ODS steels were twice as small and two orders of magnitude higher density than those in the reduced activation ferritic (RAF) steel, resulting that the ODS steels had superior resistance to swelling. The particle diameter and its size distribution range decreased gradually with increasing mechanical milling time up to 12 h and then increased drastically thereafter. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21021205
• Resource Relation: Conference: 2006 International congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'06, Reno - Nevada (United States), 4-8 Jun 2006; Other Information: Country of input: France; 32 refs; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2006 international congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'06, 2734 pages.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ATOMIC DISPLACEMENTS
AUSTENITIC STEELS
BURNUP
CLADDING
CORROSION
DENSITY
FERRITIC STEELS
HARDENING
HEAVY IONS
IRRADIATION
MARTENSITIC STEELS
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
OPERATION
OXIDES
PEROVSKITE
TENSILE PROPERTIES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS